the os x tips thread

[ThrowAway]

the program worked like a charm!!

[glitchrock-buddha]

Yeah, I REALLY liked the old way of doing it too.

Apple took a number of features of Tiger & made them worse in Leopard:

Spotlight is less intuitive & less organized (when using the full window)

iCal is about 3 times more difficult to edit (multiple stages added to the process)

Finder windows can no longer close the sidecar with a simple double click (you can do it a different way, but it also closes the menu bar).

The horrible look of the dock with it's idiotic reflections (thankifully there is a Terminal fix to make it flat again)

The Dock icons all looking the same now with only minor variations (much harder to discern what is what)

The preview issues already mentioned.

All in all, some really odd "features"...

OMG, spotlight is fucking retarded in Leopard! It used to be so easy to find shit. Now I have to go through about3 menus to tell itexplicitly to check system files as well. And you can't even set that permanently. WTF apple?

Maybe they just made Leopard suck so that they could make Snow Leopard not suck again. Hopefully.

[steko]

OMG, spotlight is fucking retarded in Leopard! It used to be so easy to find shit. Now I have to go through about3 menus to tell itexplicitly to check system files as well. And you can't even set that permanently. WTF apple?

Yes you can:

http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/spotlightsaved.html

You can have a saved search in your sidebar.

Like: "System - invisible - today", or "preferences" etc.

[muthafunka]

Ill try out that program thank you. I need to find whats eating up so much space

You might have a bunch of stuff you don't need like Garageband sounds etc. Try opening folders, go to list view, open View>View Options and enable Calculate All Sizes, now sort the list by size and you c an start to see what's chewing your space up. Obviously careful what you trash but you might be surprised what you find. Alos things like disabling or at least being aware of prefs in iTunes/iPhoto that 'copy item to library'. In iTunes this may mean that you have 2 copies of all your mp3s etc if you don't usually store them in your iTunes library ie one where you usually keep it all and one in your iTunes lib.

@Forge, where did you hear about Apple 'fixing' Preview? That's awesome news.

[steko]

So I filled my hd and wanted to clear some space. I used mac janitor to clear up almost 10 gigs. then I went through and trashed all the vsts I never used and cleared up some more space. But when I open lives browsers I can still pull these vsts up and play them...How do I get rid of them? and any other tips?

To find AUs:

Root->Library->Audio->Plug-ins->Components

To find VSTs:

Root->Library->Audio->Plug-ins->VST

Or:

User->Library->Audio->Plug-ins->Components

User->Library->Audio->Plug-ins->VST

[ThrowAway]

thanks everyone.

[aizo]

I never noticed until right now, but if you highlight a file just click once on it, then press space bar it does some kind of crazy preview. fucking blew my mind

[bendybones]

control browser font size/zoom: control + alt + scroll

zoom on screen overall (good for screen capture tutorial vids): control + scroll

scroll backward/forward through browser history: option + command + scroll

shut down computer (without using power button): control + command + eject

Loving these
Looking forward to trying the shut down tip.

Safari[...]You can then cycle through your tabs by hitting (Shift + Cmd + ] ) or (Shift + Cmd + [ )

OMG I stopped using Safari coz I I couldn't find a way to do that.
I otherwise prefer Safari because of the CMD+!-9 launching of first 9 bookmarks in bookmarks toolbar.
looks like I'll be going back to Safari

if you want to press another button (like "don't save" or "cancel") then press cmd then the initial letter of the button you want to press.

SWEET!
I also use Tab and Shift+Tab to move the secondary highlight around the various buttons, then spacebar "clicks" that button.

you can then press ESC to cancel the cmd+ tab from switching apps

Nice!

Apple 'fixing' Preview?

Yeah - would be nice to be able to switch to diff screens and keep playback

TIP:
Alt+arow jumps to start/end of word.
Cmd+arrow junps to start/end of line of text (sometimes doesn't work in a Gmail Reply).
Add Shift to highlight as u go.

[bendybones]

Cmd+[ = back (guess what forward is)
Works in Firefox and Finder (not sure bout Safari)

Ctrl+F2 to access Menus in Menu bar using arrows to nav

Alt+Eject seems to eject faster.

[bendybones]

In Firefox
Cmd+K to jump to Google Search bar (beside address bar)
F6 = highlight address in address bar (tab then takes u to Google Search Bar)

Cmd+Click = open in new tab
Alt+Click = download

in FInder
Cmd+K = connect to server
Cmd+Shift+a = open Applications folder
Cmd+Shift+d = open Desktop folder
Cmd+Shift+h = open Home folder

In Live
Use Cmd+arrow to jump/highlight words instead of characters.
Use Fn+arrow to jump to start/end of line of text.

In iTunes
Cmd+L = show currently playing track
(displays in plpylist if it was played from there or in "Music" otherwise)

Does anyone know of a way to jump the cursor to the search bar
(similar to the way Cmd+k jumps to Google Search Bar in Firefox)

[siliconarc]

dragging a folder onto the 'Save as' window will select it as the save destination.
beats navigating to a folder in the 'Save as' popup browser.

[xsic]

Does anyone know of a way to jump the cursor to the search bar
(similar to the way Cmd+k jumps to Google Search Bar in Firefox)

cmd + F, when i get you right

[xsic]

Does anyone know of a way to jump the cursor to the search bar
(similar to the way Cmd+k jumps to Google Search Bar in Firefox)

cmd + F, when i get you right

then ESC to return

[bendybones]

Does anyone know of a way to jump the cursor to the search bar
(similar to the way Cmd+k jumps to Google Search Bar in Firefox)

cmd + F, when i get you right

Doesn't work for me (Leopard?)
In case I wasn't clear I'm looking for a shortcut that will be equivalent to clicking the mouse in the Search field in the top right corner of iTunes

[bendybones]

Does anyone know of a way to jump the cursor to the search bar
(similar to the way Cmd+k jumps to Google Search Bar in Firefox)

cmd + F, when i get you right

Doesn't work for me (Leopard?)
In case I wasn't clear I'm looking for a shortcut that will be equivalent to clicking the mouse in the Search field in the top right corner of iTunes

Found It:
=Tab

Thanks for the 'Esc' tip